Table 1.
Characteristics of the health measurement sample and the regression sample
| Health measurement | Regressiona | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2003 | 2005 | |
| Age, mean | 44.3 | 44.6 | 44.7 | 41.1 | 41.2 |
| Race: | |||||
| White (%) | 66.3 | 65.6 | 65.3 | 71.3 | 72.2 |
| Black (%) | 24.6 | 25.4 | 25.8 | 20.9 | 20.5 |
| Other (%) | 9.0 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 7.7 | 7.3 |
| Married (%) | 78.4 | 79.4 | 78.9 | 82.0 | 82.8 |
| Household size, mean | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.0 |
| Years of education, mean | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.6 | 13.6 |
| Less than high school (%) | 18.0 | 18.1 | 17.9 | 9.7 | 9.8 |
| High school or some college (%) | 56.9 | 56.6 | 56.7 | 58.3 | 58.8 |
| College degree or more (%) | 25.1 | 25.3 | 25.5 | 32.0 | 31.4 |
| BMI, mean | 27.7 | 27.9 | 28.0 | 27.8 | 28.0 |
| Underweight (%) | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Normal weight (%) | 28.0 | 27.2 | 26.3 | 26.4 | 25.6 |
| Overweight (%) | 46.1 | 46.1 | 45.2 | 47.7 | 47.3 |
| Obese (%) | 17.8 | 18.3 | 19.3 | 17.9 | 18.8 |
| Severely obese (%) | 7.5 | 7.8 | 8.7 | 7.6 | 7.7 |
| Current cigarette consumption, mean | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.0 |
| Past cigarette consumption, mean | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Drink alcohol (%) | 67.3 | 67.6 | 67.1 | 71.8 | 71.7 |
| ADLs: | |||||
| Difficulty dressing (%) | 1.7 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Difficulty bathing (%) | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Difficulty eating (%) | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Difficulty getting out of chair (%) | 3.0 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| Difficulty walking (%) | 5.7 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 2.0 | 1.9 |
| Difficulty getting out of house (%) | 1.4 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Difficulty using toilet (%) | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Self-reported health, mean | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Sample size | 5,475 | 5,588 | 5,754 | 2,368 | 2,493 |
a
Intermediate sample; see Table 2